How jiggers were brought to Africa 150 years ago and why we need an apology

 

National Social security Fund and Ahadi Kenya officials treat school children in Bamba ward who are infested with jiggers during the anti-jigger campaign at Mabathani Primary School in Ganze Constituency, Kilifi County on December 6, 2018.

By John Kamau

What you need to know:

• The Thomas Mitchell brought jiggers to Africa 150 years ago – and this story reminds the colonial powers that we have not forgotten this piece of history. 
• Today, the jiggers remain a symbol of British mercantilism as the scourge continues ravaging the poor.
• In the same year that the sand fleas were dumped in Ambriz, they were also reported in Goree and Dakar, which had contacts with Congo – and Brazil.

In September 1872, the Thomas Mitchell, a lone British vessel, sailed from Brazil carrying sand ballast.

It docked at the African port of Ambriz in Angola, which was then famous for ivory, coffee, and slaves.

Little is known about this ship, only that it was built at Dumbarton on the River Clyde in 1851 and was owned by T. Mitchell, a shipping company based in Glasgow – the British city built from the fortunes of trading in slaves

This is the ship that brought jiggers to Africa 150 years ago – and this story reminds the colonial powers that we have not forgotten this piece of history. 

If there is one Africa-wide campaign that should be done, it is to force those nations that led to the dumping of this vermin on the continent to finance its eradication.

Today, the jiggers remain a symbol of British mercantilism as the scourge continues ravaging the poor.

They are a permanent imprint on the continent and exhibit the carelessness of colonial endeavours and racism.

Very little has been written about this incident and one has to scour through early records to get the truth behind the introduction of these vermin in Africa. The silence has been loud and wanting.

We shall never know whether this was a deliberate act, but what we know is that after all those years, jiggers have become an ignored tragedy and hardly features in the political and health discourse. No one has ever bothered to apologise, either.

The Thomas Mitchell had dropped its cargo of coal in Brazil from Britain (some archival sources claim its voyage carried slaves) and since there was no cargo destined for Africa, it had carried sand ballast used to add weight to the vessel so that “when the wind hits its sails it does not capsize.”